There is nothing as vibrant and captivating as contemplating the beauty of an Andean landscape; rocky shapes, high crests, emerald green valleys, and above all, the majestic heights of the mountains and volcanos; symbols of power and adoration for the natives. Through time and generations, the Ecuadorian Andes native has created a mysticism around nature, expressed through religion, adoration and thankfulness. These are the roots of their human identity, the legacy of a millenarian culture; it's myths and legends. This is the silent knowledge of himself that he shares with Pachamama, mother nature.
Canaris, Otavalos, Saraguros and Salasacas are ancient cultures who maintain this profound knowledge which they inherited from their yachacs, wisemen who found so many answers to the mysteries of the universe before their eyes.
Ancient dominant races used these virtues; along with the fear of punishment and the symbols of power, to create great empires over the ruins of the defeated cultures and their gods. Empires that emerged, inexorably, absorbed any social, economic and religious beliefs, with the thought that freedom and developement start only when a certain measure of dominion over what exists is achieved. Then the Pacha era will begin. The long awaited moment to walk down the paths of the ancestors; to rebuild the legends and the power of the mountains.
In a legendary prophecy of the Incas it is said, a time will come when the eagle and the condor will fly side by side in the silent sky. This will be the dawn of a new era, when humanity will awaken to a new consciousness and reach for higher horizons. In this awakening, looking into the silent sky, we will see the majestic condor flying side by side with the eagle; the symbol of progress. Moving swiftly toward the healing energy of a rainbow, the vivacious eagle; with it's piercing vision will invite the condor to follow him, till till they are out of sight.
Then the moment will arrive for a real coexistence between the power and wisdom of nature and its elements, with the reasonable use of technological progress, a coexistence to enhance human nature while fostering its identities and spiritual values.
From the Author
Through "Awakening in the Andes" I aim to transmit the cultural wealth and traditions of the indigenous people living in the Andes Mountains of Ecuador. They have an identity that melts in the vortex of the modern world, but which is paradoxically built on the mythical and eternal roots of their past.
In my long journeys through their towns and communities, I discovered, without fully understanding them, their deep feelings of eternal solitude, sometimes mistaken for innocence and joy. These feelings flow in a landscape of shining paramos, suspended in the eternal embrace of the magical Andean snows.
While I was trying to penetrate the secrets of the hills and mountains, while awaiting the dawn, feeling their eternal silence and color of their landscapes all around me, I finally understood; that this is a different and unknown world; an ethereal, spiritual and mythical world. I understood at that moment, the roots of their innocence, the cause of their joy and the essence of their eternal solitude.
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